Matt Hartley in Datamation says one of the biggest challenges in getting family and friends to switch to Linux is that it's unfamiliar territory, and when something goes wrong it's hard for the unacclimated﻿ to troubleshoot and fix it.

Hartley says one solution is for you to use a remote desktop client to help them. Remote desktop software enables someone to access and control another person's desktop. ﻿In an overview of five remote desktop clients, Harley outlines the pros and cons of both proprietary and open source remote desktop software.

His favorite commercial program, because of its simplicity and stability, is Splashtop, a client that offers simple and intuitive remote connection as well as an Android app that makes remote access possible on the go. When it comes to his favorite open source freeware client, Harley goes with X2Go, which extends to PCs as well as Linux and makes "remotely controlling another PC possible from a web browser."

Have you used any of these applications? Any quibbles with Hartley's choices? Do you have any other clients to recommend?

9 Replies

In the corporate environment TeamViewer's product works just as well for Linux desktops as it does from the PC. You can access you Linux desktops from a tablet or even a phone if your masochistic like that.

I have used Nomachine's NX free version for years. It is fast that you don't have the feel of being remote. However the latest version of its NX appears a bit awkward and Ubuntu's Unity caused some issues.

The last time I looked at Teamviewer cost was the problem. It was free for personal, noncommercial use but prohibitvely expensive for commercial use. I'll have to give X2Go another try. Does X2Go work with Unity?

I like to setup Remmina on my Linux desktops then connect to whatever the heck I want (in reason). NX, RDP, VNC - it's got the basics covered and doesn't require installing non-native software on anything. You may have to setup a normal VNC password on the Macs to connect to those before logging in separately.

+﻿1 for TeamViewer, possibly because I use the paid version at work, so I know my way around the free version for home use.

But I would recommend, if giving a Linux machine to grandma, that you install TeamViewer and configure it so you can access it easily FIRST, then hand over the machine to the other person. Trying to install a .deb package over the phone just so you can help them isn't going to be fun for either of you.

Of course this also presupposes that the person to whom you're giving a starter Linux machine to can get themselves online. If they 'tried to google the interweb but couldn't log through', or they figured if they just plugged the router into itself, that would make it wireless...then no remote access tools are going to work anyway.